Jay-Z and my watch

My friend Gayle told me once that Jay-Z said any man of style must own a hat and a watch. Jay-Z should know.

Gayle is married to the very stylish Laurence, who I know owns a hat (or two) and I’m certain he had a watch too. Or was she looking for a watch for him and was admiring mine and that’s how we got onto the topic of watches and hats?

If Laurence did not have a watch the two of us would have made two halves of Jay-Z’s man of style.

I’ve pretty much always had a watch. I got my first one when I turned 11. It was the day I played my first rugby match at my new primary school in Hoedspruit. My parents were terribly proud of my making the team and becoming a teenager at the same time and my sister and her friend decorated my birthday cake to resemble a rugby field.

Of course, I could not care less about the whole rugby fuss and we lost anyways. I was excited about my watch.

It was a digital Casio I think. Quite simple, silver wristband and it could count down seconds and show the date, but I was happy. I would always know the time.

Watches came and went over the course of my school career. Digital made way for the more traditional one with the arms. I remember this one big and bright watch I had in the early nineties that got smashed in my school suitcase one day. I still suspect some other boy who had a crush on the same girl as me.

At the end of high school I came to visit some friends in the Cape. On my way here I noticed that my watch was losing time. This annoyed me something terribly and I had the batteries changed as soon as I arrived in Stellenbosch.

Later that day I noticed that my watch was loosing time again. Irritated I went back to the store and demanded a new battery. But the same thing happened, after a couple of hours I was behind time again. I went to the store a third time and they decided to check the battery. It was fine. Something was obviously wrong with the watch.

I bought the watch in Switzerland earlier that year and I was saddened by the whole affair, but I managed to pull myself together and moved on.

A couple of years ago I bought a new Swatch while on holiday in Korea. It was a neat watch and drew some compliments.

But then one day, after about two years it started losing time. I had the battery changed at a Swatch store, but the same thing happened as some years before. It kept on lagging behind. By the third time the girl at the store did not seem impressed with my watch and me anymore. I decided to put it back in its box where it is lying to this day.

Some time after that I bought my second Fossil. I think it is my favorite watch to date. It has a large face with arms and a digital second counter on the background. Every time you press a button the way the seconds gets displayed changes. I think there are about ten options. The wristband is silver and it has a special safety mechanism, which ensures the watch will not easily come loose and slip of your arm.

I spent a lot of time showing off my watch to students and friends.

All went well. The watch stayed with me through trips into South East Asia, moving house, a break-up, moving back to South Africa, beginning school again, and a new relationship.

Then a couple of weeks ago it started to loose time…

And the same story repeated itself. After the new battery did not work I took it back to the Fossil store where the girl suggested a service repair. R220 later I had my watch back on my wrist. Good as new.

Until yesterday morning when I noticed that it was still yesterday on my watch. I took it back and it is going in for another service.

I’m a bit freaked by all of this. Is it me or is just co-incidence that so many of my watches just start lagging behind while on my wrist?

So maybe watches and I are not compatible. I don’t think hats and I really are. I’ve tried and it just seems a little uncomfortable on me. It’s like wearing glasses for the first time and looking alien to yourself. And then there’s the hat line.

So according to some that would make me not a man of style. At least I tried. And anyways, Laurence does it so much better.